Britney Spears’ ‘If U Seek Amy’ Went Too Far

Britney Spears ‘ “If U Seek Amy” might be the most obscene song of her whole career. While Spears had received flack since the release of “…Baby One More Time,” the 2009 release “If U Seek Amy” was one of the few times she actually went too far. While Spears didn’t deserve to lose her career over the song, it was a bad idea on multiple levels.

Britney Spears’ ‘If U Seek Amy’ was a middle-school sensation for all the wrong reasons

The phrase “If U Seek Amy” doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t make sense in the context of the song. It only makes sense if you say it fast. The line is supposed to sound like Spears is spelling out “f*** me.” It’s the sort of naughty novelty song that goes over well in middle schools.

And that’s precisely why it was a bad idea in the first place. Do we really need a highly sexual song like this to be marketed to small children? Do we want them singing it in public? The track also fails on a purely artistic level. “If U Seek Amy” is just a dumber version of Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-Ling” with some abrasive synthesizers added. It embodies the carnivalesque attitude of Spears’ album Circus in the worst way.

‘If U Seek Amy’ was the rotten work of a musical genius

Despite the rancid concept of “If U Seek Amy,” the track has an excellent pedigree. It was produced by Max Martin, a pop music juggernaut who wrote enormous hits for Katy Perry , the Backstreet Boys, Adele, Kesha, Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and other superstars.

During a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone , Spears said that she likes working with Martin because of his unorthodox ideas. “He has been there since the beginning so there is such a huge level of trust,” she revealed. “He gets exactly what I am saying when I tell him what I want and don’t want musically.  His melodies are incredible and he is always coming up with weird sounds, which I love.”

While Martin’s oddball choices have worked many times (such as the whistle in “I Wanna Go” or the nonsense lyrics of “I Want It That Way”), he swung and missed with “If U Seek Amy.”

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Britney Spears went in a different direction for her next album

Whether you love “If U Seek Amy” or not, Spears didn’t repeat herself when she made her next album. She decided to make her next record, Femme Fatale , darker than Circus . While Femme Fatale has its silly moments, it never gets as juvenile as “If U Seek Amy.”

“When we first sat down to talk about Femme Fatale , I knew I wanted to make a dance album that was ahead of everything else out there but unique to me, which is why I was so picky with the recording process,” she said. “I only wanted songs that I immediately connected to. I also wanted to make sure that this album was completely different from Circus or anything else I had ever recorded. I love Circus , but I wanted something darker and edgier. I also wanted to make an album and didn’t want to just record a bunch of songs and put them together. I think Femme Fatale is really connected from start to finish.”

If you seek through Spears’ discography, she’s made much better music than “If U Seek Amy.”